Hey @griff - I wrote a post about surviving and winning NaNoWriMo last night. Take a peek if you get a chance...you will see that I would recommend working on both...as long as you have your word count up (Me...bad ML. lol)
As for this excerpt...it's soooo good! I had a feeling the exchange was going to be bad...bad, bad, bad...and I loved it. :)